The Peak of Winter
by Lopithecus
Summary: Gotham and Metropolis are both buried under snow, causing city wide power outages. Since there's not a lot of crime due to no one wanting to be out in seven feet of snow, Clark decides to spend the early night off with Bruce and his family as they try to warm themselves up in front of the fireplace.


**The Peak of Winter**

 **A/N: This is part one of a three part series. Hope you enjoy. :)**

Clark lands in the Bat-cave, his feet touching the hard, rock ground silently. There's no one in the cave which isn't surprising considering the situation that the outside is currently in. Clark quickly changes into his regular clothes and begins his ascent of the stairs into the Manor. He's in search of his boyfriend who could be in any number of these rooms that have a fireplace. He begins his hunt, using his hearing and superior eyesight in order to see in the dark.

The snow outside has been falling nonstop for two whole days, the flakes big and thick. They stick to the ground and become really heavy when built up. They've already clung to tree branches to the point of snapping them off, the roads are slippery due to the salt not being laid down in time and the plows can't keep up, and worse of all, power lines have started to fall under the weight of the compacted snow. Metropolis and Gotham both are experiencing city wide power outages and Superman and Batman have already had to stop a few looters targeting vulnerable stores. The only good thing about the snowfall, however, seems to be that the crime has significantly lessened due to people struggling to stay warm in negative twenty degrees Fahrenheit weather and not wanting to trudge through seven feet of snow. It leads to an early night for Batman and Superman.

Clark finds Bruce in one of the family rooms, the one with the biggest fireplace. There's already a fire going and Bruce is sitting on the couch in front of it with a big, fluffy blanket draped over his shoulders. Clark can see where he stands in the doorway that his boyfriend is shivering.

He approaches with a smile and bends down over the back of the couch to give Bruce a kiss on the cheek. "Hello." Bruce looks over his shoulder and watches Clark as he comes around the couch to stand in front of him. "How come the generator isn't working?"

Bruce shrugs. He's wearing a thick black sweater and a pair of black sweatpants. His feet are also tucked under him so Clark can't tell if he has socks on but in this cold he can't imagine him not. "The thing ran out of gas a while ago and we can't get to it to refill it. I tried... and I ended up getting soaked." That's when Clark notices Bruce's wet hair. That would explain why his boyfriend is shivering the way he is.

"Do you want me to go do it?" Clark offered.

Bruce gives a mini scowl as if contemplating whether or not to allow Clark to try his luck. "No, not right now. You can later though. Right now I want you under this blanket with me."

Clark doesn't move and instead looks around the room. "Where are Alfred and the kids?"

"Alfred is in the kitchen making hot cocoa, Damian is in his room plotting how to kill his teacher, Jason is God knows where, but I'm sure he'll turn up later as long as he doesn't freeze to death." Clark raises one eyebrow at that but knows Bruce is only attempting humor. Bad humor but humor nonetheless. Clark genuinely does hope Jason will be okay though. Bruce sighs as he continues. "Dick and Barbra _should_ be in Bludhaven but who the hell knows if they really are, Tim and Kon are in Metropolis, at least that's where Tim said they were going... wouldn't tell me why no matter how much I asked but he promised to be back in a few hours, and Cassandra and Stephanie are on their way here from going to the park to enjoy the snowfall." Bruce sticks one foot out from under him, extends it, and pokes at Clark's stomach, opening the blanket. "Now come here and give me your warmth."

Smiling at his boyfriend, he approaches and sits next to Bruce, close enough so he can wrap the entire blanket around both of them. Bruce immediately snuggles closer and rests his head on Clark's shoulder. "Better?"

"Much," Bruce says with a sigh. Clark wraps his arms around Bruce and begins rubbing at his arms through the sweater. Clark places a small kiss atop Bruce's head and wrinkles his nose at the moist hair.

"Your hair is soaked. You want me to dry it?" he asks. Bruce is silent for a little while before he nods. Clark, using his breath, quickly dries his hair.

It causes a shiver to run through Bruce's entire body and Clark begins his rubbing again. "That was cold."

Clark holds back a chuckle, thinking Bruce probably wouldn't like it. "Well that was to be expected. At least your hair is dry now." Bruce only hums his agreement and silence falls upon them.

Clark is just starting to enjoy the warmth of the fire on his face, Bruce in his arms whose shivers are slowly going away, and the peaceful serenity of the room when Damian enters. He too is shivering. "I should have known the alien would be here." He walks into their view, blocking the fireplace. "Father, I think I've finally come up with how to teach my professor a lesson for giving us homework on a weekend."

Clark hears Bruce sigh quietly. "Have you now?"

Damian crosses his arms in front of his chest. Clark is still sometimes amazed how much he looks like Bruce. "I have and I've decided to implement the plan the next time he decides to repeat the action."

"You do that Damian." For a split second there's a look of surprise on Damian's face as if he couldn't believe his father would allow him to hurt his teacher.

But then, just as quickly, the look is replaced with narrowed eyes. "Are you trying to use sarcasm?"

"No I'm not." This time the sarcasm is clear in Bruce's voice and Clark has to hold back a laugh at Damian's pouting face. He would hate it if Clark ever told him it was cute. "Do you really think I would let you hurt your teacher? And there is nothing wrong with homework on a weekend."

Damian pouts some more. "You never let me have any fun." Bruce rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything.

"Damian," Clark begins and the young boy turns to look at him, narrowed eyes back. "Are you cold?"

Damian immediately tries to stop his shivering and he's successful for about two seconds before they return. Bruce huffs under his breath. "No, I'm not."

"Why don't you come under the blanket with me and Bruce? I'm a pretty good furnace," Clark offers.

Damian eyes him suspiciously. "I will _not_ go under a blanket with my father and his alien boyfriend."

Clark opens the blanket. "Oh come on Damian, it's warm."

Damian continues to stand there, eyeing him and shivering with his arms crossed. With the blanket being open, Bruce starts to shiver again as well. It only takes Damian a minute to cave, which Clark considers a new personal record. "Fine, but only this once." The boy approaches and climbs onto Clark's lap and Clark wraps the three of them up again. He then feels Damian trying to _secretly_ sit back and snuggle into Clark's chest, liking the warmth that is radiating off of him. Clark holds back a smile, knowing that it will scare the child away if he sees, and instead shoots a look to Bruce who gives him the same knowing look. "I suppose this isn't _that_ bad but I meant it when I said this will only happen once."

"Of course, Damian," Clark says.

"Only once," Bruce adds and then starts to laugh which in turn causes Clark to start laughing. Damian has a scowl on his face and his arms are crossed again but he doesn't get up. Clark figures that's a victory.

Silence once again descends upon them and they sit there enjoying it. Soon, Cassandra and Stephanie join them, both of the girls sitting on the floor diagonally to the fireplace. Close behind them are Dick and Barbra. "Barbra, come share the blanket with us," Stephanie offers and Barbra gratefully takes it. Dick goes and retrieves his own blanket, taking refuge next to Clark on the couch. He's shivering as well but the girls seem to be fine, chatting idly to one another.

Tim and Kon eventually make it back as well and continue to avoid Bruce's questions about what they got up to in Metropolis which only annoys Bruce. Clark is the one to calm him down and encourage him to let it go, at least for now as he knows letting things go isn't Bruce's style. Tim also retrieves a blanket and he and Kon both share it on the other couch.

Clark briefly wonders what is taking Alfred so long with those hot cocoas when Jason comes into the room. "Nice to see you all nice and cozy inside and away from the cold."

"Jason, just take your soggy boots off and don't bitch," Dick says and Clark _really, really_ hopes a fight will not break out. "You can enjoy the warmth from the fireplace or a Kryptonian just as much as the rest of us."

Jason tsks and kicks his boots off, grumbling something about Tim and Bruce being lucky to have their very own walking furnace. Clark is just glad he didn't decide to start a fight. Jason grabs the afghan off the back of the third couch in the room and sprawls across it, covering himself with the blanket. He closes his eyes and covers them with the crook of his elbow.

Clark is also surprised no one mentioned anything about Damian sitting in Clark's lap but he supposes that's a good thing because he knows the kid would run away back to his room in embarrassment. Though Damian would never admit that he was embarrassed.

Alfred comes out then with eleven mugs, ten of them with hot cocoa and one with tea. He sets both of the trays down onto the coffee table and turns to Clark. "I'm sorry, Master Clark, but I have seemed to run into a slight problem. With the power being out I have no way of heating these drinks. I was going to do it using the fire but seeing as you are here."

Alfred leaves it at that and Clark smiles at him. "Yeah, no problem Alfred." He then uses his heat vision to warm up each mug to just the right temperature and Alfred hands them out. After all the drinks are given, Alfred sits on the other side of Dick, his own blanket on his lap and his tea in his hands.

Clark looks around him and smiles. Alfred is sipping at his tea, gazing at the fireplace, Jason is sleeping, Dick is humming his approval of the hot cocoa, the girls are chatting and playing on the floor, all three under one blanket, Tim and Kon are cuddled closely on the opposite couch from the one Jason is on, whispering softly to each other and smiling fondly, Damian is trying not to show how much he is enjoying the heat coming off of Clark though he's doing a poor job at it, and Bruce is sitting in his arms, head rested against his shoulder. This is his family, the one he was happy to adopt when he and Bruce got together. Even before that he was happy to include them as family, when it was just Bruce, Alfred, and then eventually Dick. He smiles fondly at the old memories and the new ones that are yet to come. He's glad this is his family, proud to call them that, and he loves every single one of them.

He nudges Bruce's head up and when he complies, Clark places a kiss on his cheek. "What was that for?" Bruce asks.

Clark smiles at him. "Just... I love you."

Bruce smiles back and kisses him on the mouth, lingering there for a few seconds before pulling away. "I love you too."

 **A/N: Thank you for reading. :)**


End file.
